Chinese Canadian National Council rejects Macleans Magazine “non-apology” for “Too Asian?” article

Macleans Magazine gave new meaning to the term “Yellow Journalism” in the article “Too Asian?”(since renamed “The Enrollment Controversy” on-line).

The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) has rejected a
letter from Rogers Publishing, the parent company of Macleans. In its
letter, Rogers Publishing reviewed some of the steps taken by Macleans
to address the community's concerns over the Too Asian? article.

Not only did Macleans change the online title twice, once protests were made against the article, but most of the interview subjects all state that their quotes and research were taken out of context and mis-represented. The CCNC (Chinese Canadian National Council) has not only tracked down the people quoted in the article, but also launched a national call for an apology from the magazine. CCNC has organized the Facebook Group Not Too Asian

Here is the CCNC press release that lists all the out-of-context quotes:

ccnc.caI see the problem with the article is that the writers and editors
probably did not know the history, and have not lived through
generations of systemic racism, and were not sensitive to how their
article and tone would be received and perceived. It is
commendable that somebody actually tracked down all the quotes and asked
the people what they actually said and meant. “Too Asian?” is clearly a
piece of biased cookie-cutter journalism, where the writers made the
quotes fit the theme they wanted.– Unfortunately, the article is a
reminder of all the “Yellow Peril” journalism and cartoons that were
racially biased against Asians in colonial BC and Canada, that led to
the 1885-1925 Chinese Head Tax, 1925-1947 Chinese Exclusion Act, and
1942-1947 Japanese Canadian Internment, property confiscation and
dispersal policy.http://www.ccnc.ca/redress/history.html

In September 1979, CTV's W5 Campus Giveaway story, similarly misrepresented a story that “foreign students” were taking spots in university that should go to Canadian students. An investigation revealed that the “Asian faces” panned by the television camera, actually belonged to Canadian students of Asian ancestry, or students with resident status, and thus eligible for the program. http://archives.cbc.ca/society/racism/clips/9248/

Thirty years later, “Campus Giveaway” is now used as an example of racist and biased media story, and how the community united to fight against the perceived racism.